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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Dalai Lama Quote - The failure to act when it is clear that action is required

ETHICS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUMby the Dalai Lama,edited by Alexander Norman,translated by Dr. Thupten Jinpamore...

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week

We have a saying in Tibet that engaging in the practice of virtue is as hard as driving a donkey uphill, whereas engaging in destructive activities is as easy as rolling boulders downhill. It is also said that negative impulses arise as spontaneously as rain and gather momentum just like water following the course of gravity. What makes matters worse is our tendency to indulge negative thoughts and emotions even while agreeing that we should not. It is essential, therefore, to address directly our tendency to put things off and while away our time in meaningless activities and shrink from the challenge of transforming our habits on the grounds that it is too great a task. In particular, it is important not to allow ourselves to be put off by the magnitude of others' suffering. The misery of millions is not a cause for pity. Rather it is a cause for developing compassion.

We must also recognize that the failure to act when it is clear that action is required may itself be a negative action....inaction is attributable less to negative thoughts and emotions as to a lack of compassion. It is thus important that we are no less determined to overcome our habitual tendency to laziness than we are to exercise restraint in response to afflictive emotion.

--from Ethics for the New Millennium by the Dalai Lama, edited by Alexander Norman, translated by Dr. Thupten Jinpa